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• sweet
  sweet

  adjective

  having the taste or flavor characteristic of sugar, honey, etc.
• Sweet
  Sweet

  noun

  Henry, 1845–1912, English philologist and linguist.

sweet

¹ American  

[sweet] / swit /

adjective

• sweeter,
  comparative
• sweetest
  superlative

1. having the taste or flavor characteristic of sugar, honey, etc.

   Synonyms:

   sugary

2. producing the one of the four basic taste sensations that is not bitter, sour, or salt.

3. not rancid or stale; fresh.

   This milk is still sweet.

4. not salt or salted.

   sweet butter.

5. pleasing to the ear; making a delicate, pleasant, or agreeable sound; musical.

   Synonyms:

   mellifluous, melodious

6. pleasing or fresh to the smell; fragrant; perfumed.

   Synonyms:

   aromatic, redolent

7. pleasing or agreeable; delightful.

8. amiable; kind or gracious, as a person, action, etc.

   Synonyms:

   charming, lovable, winning

9. dear; beloved; precious.

10. easily managed; done or effected without effort.

11. (of wine) not dry; containing unfermented, natural sugar.

12. (of a cocktail) made with a greater proportion of vermouth than usual.

13. sentimental, cloying, or unrealistic.

    a sweet painting of little kittens.

14. (of air) fresh; free from odor, staleness, excess humidity, noxious gases, etc.

15. free from acidity or sourness, as soil.

16. Chemistry.

    1. devoid of corrosive or acidic substances.

    2. (of fuel oil or gas) containing no sulfur compounds.

17. (of jazz or big band music) performed with a regular beat, moderate tempo, lack of improvisation, and an emphasis on warm tone and clearly outlined melody.

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adverb

1. in a sweet manner; sweetly.

interjection

1. Slang. (used to express approval, admiration, satisfaction, pleasure, etc..

   I hear she got a promotion. Sweet!

noun

• sweets
  plural

1. a sweet flavor, smell, or sound; sweetness.

2. something that is sweet or causes or gives a sweet flavor, smell, or sound.

3. sweets,

   1. candy, pie, cake, and other foods high in sugar content.

   2. Informal. sweet potatoes.

4. Chiefly British.

   1. a piece of candy; confection or bonbon.

   2. a sweet dish or dessert, as a pudding or tart.

5. something pleasant to the mind or feelings.

6. a beloved person.

7. Often sweets (in direct address) darling; sweetheart.

   Yes, my sweet.

idioms

1. sweet on, infatuated with; in love with.

   He's sweet on her.

2. short and sweet. see short and sweet.

Sweet ² American  

[sweet] / swit /

noun

1. Henry, 1845–1912, English philologist and linguist.

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sweet ¹ British  

/ swiːt /

adjective

1. having or denoting a pleasant taste like that of sugar

2. agreeable to the senses or the mind

   sweet music

3. having pleasant manners; gentle

   a sweet child

4. (of wine, etc) having a relatively high sugar content; not dry

5. (of foods) not decaying or rancid

   sweet milk

6. not salty

   sweet water

7. free from unpleasant odours

   sweet air

8. containing no corrosive substances

   sweet soil

9. (of petrol) containing no sulphur compounds

10. sentimental or unrealistic

11. individual; particular

    the electorate went its own sweet way

12. jazz performed with a regular beat, with the emphasis on clearly outlined melody and little improvisation

13. slang satisfactory or in order; all right

14. archaic respected; dear (used in polite forms of address)

    sweet sir

15. smooth and precise; perfectly executed

    a sweet shot

16. fond of or infatuated with

17. to ingratiate oneself in order to ensure cooperation

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adverb

1. informal in a sweet manner

noun

1. a sweet taste or smell; sweetness in general

2. (often plural) any of numerous kinds of confectionery consisting wholly or partly of sugar, esp of sugar boiled and crystallized ( boiled sweets )

3. a pudding, fruit, or any sweet dish served as a dessert

4. dear; sweetheart (used as a form of address)

5. anything that is sweet

6. (often plural) a pleasurable experience, state, etc

   the sweets of success

7. See sweet potato

Sweet ² British  

noun

1. Henry. 1845–1912, English philologist; a pioneer of modern phonetics. His books include A History of English Sounds (1874)

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sweet More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing sweet

• short and sweet
• take the bitter with the sweet

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• oversweetness
  noun
• supersweetness
  noun
• sweetness
  noun
• nonsweet
  adjective
• oversweet
  adjective
• supersweet
  adjective
• sweetish
  adjective
• oversweetly
  adverb
• supersweetly
  adverb
• sweetly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• sweets
  plural

Adjectives

• sweeter
  comparative
• sweetest
  superlative

Etymology

Origin of sweet

First recorded before 900; (adjective and adverb) Middle English swet(e), Old English swēte (adjective); (noun) Middle English swet(e), derivative of the adjective; cognate with Old Saxon swōti, Old High German swuozi ( German süss ); akin to Dutch zoet, Old Norse sætr, Gothic suts, Sanskrit svādú-, Greek hēdýs, hādýs “sweet,” Latin suāvis “pleasant” and suādēre “to recommend”

Explanation

Food that’s sweet is full of sugar, bad for your teeth, but oh so tasty. People who are sweet are super nice, like that sweet lunch lady who gives you an extra cookie. Sweet can be an adjective or a noun. It can describe something pleasing to the senses, like a sweet song, or when you're playing basketball and get nothing but net. Sweet! As a noun, it's a confection, a little something for dessert. The poet Khalil Gibran said, “Friendship is always a sweet responsibility, never an opportunity.” Don’t opportunistically take your friends for granted, or you could become the target of some sweet revenge.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sweet Sweet sweets sweeter sweetest

He made sure cameras followed him to his father’s favorite Rio bakery Saturday where he tucked into his father’s signature sweet treat of bread slathered with condensed milk.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026

This version leans hard into fresh corn, still in its cool green husks and already smelling sweet before you cut it from the cob.

From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026

Really, what writer, no matter how detached from their past, could resist that kind of sweet talk?

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026

When 3 in the afternoon rolls around on a particularly bad work day, you’re in desperate need of a fun sweet treat to get you out of the slump.

From Slate ● Aug. 14, 2026

It did smell sweet, but also slightly rotten, like spoiled fruit.

From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff

He later worked on their track Sweet Song from 2003's Think Thank.

From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026

She also has an athleisure line with On, and was just announced as the face of Prada’s latest fragrance, Paradoxe Sweet Chemistry.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026

These days, the temperature inside the kitchen at Sweet Red Peach bakery is at least 93 degrees.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026

Geopolitical tensions in the Middle East—which Accenture CEO Julie Sweet cited as one factor affecting results—“is putting further pressure on weak discretionary spend,” Thind wrote.

From Barron's ● Jun. 22, 2026

Sweet, slow-moving Cal, with his hipster bangs and his ocean eyes.

From "Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda" by Becky Albertalli

Over several days last month in Blaby, a BBC team watched comings and goings at the two mini-marts, which sold vapes and sweets until late in the evening.

From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026

Catherine, meanwhile, had run to seed and spent as much time as possible lying in bed eating sweets.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 1, 2026

Mark Williams famously took sweets from someone in the front row during the 2018 final and, fuelled by Minstrels and Wine Gums, went on to defeat Higgins to win his third world title.

From BBC ● Apr. 26, 2026

There are stands offering Portuguese steaks, sweets, high-end wines, health-food tacos and the finest coastal oysters around, consumed around shared tables.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 27, 2026

She set the tin on the counter and led me to the table, where she had arranged the tea tray with sweets.

From "Darius the Great Is Not Okay" by Adib Khorram

Indian mango—Alphonso from Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri coast, Kesar from Gujarat, Chausa and Langra from the north, Banganapalli from the south—is richer, sweeter and fiercely seasonal.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 4, 2026

The anchor investors who plan to buy almost $2.8 billion of shares will get a sweeter deal—1.5 shares of the management company for every five shares of the closed-end fund.

From Barron's ● Apr. 27, 2026

Think fewer ripped bodices, more compression socks — and all the sweeter for it.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 9, 2026

Victory was made even sweeter for scorer Ben Waine by the fact that he is a boyhood fan of Sunderland's big rivals Newcastle.

From BBC ● Mar. 8, 2026

“Shun the crow’s nest and your enlightenment will be sweeter than its poison intoxication,” the captain tells me.

From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman

Wearing a light pink dress and a warm smile, “she looked like everyone’s sweetest grandmother,” he said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2026

If he can carry it all the way to a seventh Premiership title it may be the sweetest victory of the lot.

From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2026

These days, Thompson’s music is among the sweetest.

From Salon ● May 15, 2026

"The first title is always the sweetest compared to the others, but this eighth one is a kind of confirmation. Nobody would have thought that one day De Vlaeminck's record would be broken," he said.

From Barron's ● Feb. 1, 2026

“Oh, you kids are the best. Merci mille foes! This is the sweetest gift ever.”

From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller

Related Words

• appealing
• beautiful
• charming
• delightful
• engaging
• generous
• gentle
• lovable
• loving
• luscious
• mild
• mushy
• pleasant
• pleasing
• tender